#employee awareness

[jcmarchi]

Spamouflage's advanced deceptive behavior reinforces need for strong email security

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/spamouflages-advanced-deceptive-behavior-reinforces-need-for-strong-email-security/

Spamouflage's advanced deceptive behavior reinforces need for strong email security

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Ahead of the U.S. elections, adversaries are weaponizing social media to gain political sway. Russian and Iranian efforts have become increasingly aggressive and transparent. However, China appears to have taken a more carefully calculated and nuanced approach.

China’s seeming disinformation efforts have little to do with positioning one political candidate as preferable to another. Rather, the country’s maneuvers may aim to undermine trust in voting systems, elections and America, in general; amplifying criticism and sowing discord.

Spamouflage

In recent months, the Chinese disinformation network, known as Spamouflage, has pursued “advanced deceptive behavior.” It has quietly launched thousands of accounts across more than 50 domains, and used them to target people across the United States.

The group has been active since 2017, but has recently reinforced its efforts.

Fake profiles

The Spamouflage network’s fake online accounts present fake identities, which sometimes change on a whim. The accounts/profiles have been spotted on X, TikTok and elsewhere.

For example: Harlan claimed to be a New York resident and an Army veteran, age 29. His profile picture showed a well-groomed young man. However, a few months later, his account shifted personas. Suddenly, Harlan appeared to be from Florida and a 31 year-old Republican influencer. 

At least four different accounts were found to mimic Trump supporters – part of a tactic with the moniker “MAGAflage.”

The fake profiles, including the fake photos, may have been generated through artificial intelligence tools, according to analysts.

Accounts have exhibited certain patterns, using hashtags like #American, while presenting themselves as voters or groups that “love America” but feel alienated by political issues that range from women’s healthcare to Ukraine.

In June, one post on X read “Although I am American, I am extremely opposed to NATO and the behavior of the U.S. government in war. I think soldiers should protect their own country’s people and territory…should not initiate wars on their own…” The text was accompanied by an image showing NATO’s expansion across Europe.

Email security implications

Disinformation campaigns that create (and weaponize) fake profiles, as described above, will have a high degree of success when crafting and distributing phishing emails, as the emails will appear to come from credible sources.

This makes it essential for organizations to implement and for employees to adhere to advanced verification methods that can ensure the veracity of communications.

Advanced email security protocols

Within your organization, if you haven’t done so already, consider implementing the following:

Multi-factor authentication. Even if credentials are compromised via phishing, MFA can help protect against unauthorized account access.

Email authentication protocols. Technologies such as SPF, DKIM and DMARC can assist with verifying the legitimacy of email senders and spoofing prevention.

Advanced threat detection. Advanced threat detection solutions that are powered by AI and machine learning can enhance email traffic security.

Employee awareness. Remind employees to not only think before they click, but to also think before they link to information – whether in their professional roles or their personal lives.

Incident response plans. Most organizations have incident response plans. But are they routinely updated? Can they address disinformation and deepfake threats?

Further thoughts

To effectively counter threats, organizations need to pursue a dynamic, multi-dimensional approach. But it’s tough.

To get expert guidance, please visit our website or contact our experts. We’re here to help!

[violent138]

Alfred totally brags about the kids in public, simultaneously shading Bruce who cannot defend himself using Batman:

Alfred: "Master Duke was a Gotham Genius Grant finalist at 12, and Miss Gordon holds multiple degrees." *side eyes Bruce*

Bruce:

Or

"Oh, Master Dick restored the car himself, he's got a phenomenal skill with automobiles, much like the late Dr.Wayne himself."

Outsider: "Too bad it skipped you, huh Bruce? Can't even change a spare tire."

Bruce: *seething quietly* "I wonder where he gets it."

And

A visitor to Wayne Manor: "These are lovely portraits."

Alfred: "The work of Master Damian, he's practically a prodigy. It's a relief that someone in the family is appreciative of the arts."

Bruce: "I appreciate art--"

Alfred: "Twelve years of piano lessons and nothing to show for it."

Later in the Cave

Bruce: "I appreciate art."

Alfred: "Apologies Master Bruce, it's a little hard to see things around here as you seem to think black is the last remaining colour in the world."

Bruce:

[yoshifawful64]

HUGE WIN FOR THE FURRIES

[meeks-just-wants-to-scroll]

Inspired by my recent encounters with a Bracken I recorded for a video.

[uncanny-tranny]

The most recent thing to have further radicalized me was the insult of being directly told that healthcare, transportation coverage, and a potential retirement plan were as much a benefit to my employer's eyes as a free fucking t-shirt. A t-shirt.

[bunabi]

Not to be gloomy at 7am but the government really would rather people get longterm medical complications than slow down the economy, and the reaction to this what ? a sigh of relief ? because simple hygeine and wearing masks is too inconvenient ? we will quite literally never be free at this rate

[wuxian-vs-wangji]

How can I bribe you into helping me get a job in the industry, other than promising my undying love, which you already have <3

The industry is horrible and awful, low pay, long hours, no real chance of advancing.

Whenever people touring the station or new interns ask me for advice, I always tell them to change careers lol

[vaugarde]

confused by the people going “polle represents jimmy’s fear of the company giving him consequences for assaulting anya” because like. why would the pony express give a shit when they’re a cartoonishly horrible company? do you think theyd take sexual abuse seriously when they enable it to happen in the first place via unlocked sleeping quarters? i got the impression that jimmy was more concerned about societal consequences and physical proof of his abuse and the expectation that he needs to take responsibility for it, than about the pony express taking action against him.

[mariemariemaria]

Does anybody else feel like mental health awareness has done very little to help them in material reality

[mrdrhenwardhykle]

This isn’t really a ship I just thought it was cute

[trifoliate-undergrowth]

I went to a thrift store after work in my NPS uniform and a little old lady asked me if I worked there. At the thrift store. The National Parks Service manages your local Savers

[pinacoladamatata]

eating my popcorn watching all this drama go down irt the larian discord server

[knifegrrrl1312]

"The union representing workers at Ten Ten Sinclair has filed a grievance regarding back pay and signing bonuses not being paid.

Workers at the non-profit program agreed to a new six-year deal in March following a strike that lasted three weeks.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees Manitoba (CUPE) confirmed to CTV News a grievance was filed on July 12. They said Ten Ten Sinclair had 45 days from when the new collective agreement was ratified to implement the agreement.

"The grievance is because the employer (Ten Ten Sinclair) has not fulfilled those obligations with respect to back pay and the signing bonus," a spokesperson for CUPE said in an email to CTV News."

@allthecanadianpolitics

[sunnifer]

anachronisms are only ok when i do them

[vaxxildamn]

very happy Matt decided to clarify his stance on the genocide of the Palestinian people rn. Pretty unhappy with the way he worded it, who he centered in his video, and disappointed to see the responses to it on Twitter.

kinda scared to even post about it bc CR fans can get so defensive about their favorite white people that they can often leave little room for criticism or nuance. but man I have thoughts.

[dazais-guardian-angel]

Y'all, I think I've figured it out. Operating on the assumption that the finale is indeed an alternate timeline from the manga, then someone could have written on a page of the Book to rewrite reality to lead to the events of the finale sometime during season 5's events. In other words, this would explain the INCONSISTENCIES with things that were established or at least heavily implied/assumed prior and in the manga: Chuuya being a real vampire and not in control, nothing being planned, Dazai giving sincere speeches, Dazai really being shot and saying his "last words", Fyodor's hand not being injured, soukoku not killing Fyodor while in Meursault because they literally couldn't and Dazai needing Sigma to discover Fyodor's secrets because of that, Fukuchi's goal not being one that relied on Fukuzawa being alive since he clearly intended to kill him, etc etc too many more to count

Events and explanations in the finale feeling so contradictory and out of place, and characters feeling so ooc and not acknowledging any discrepancies, makes perfect sense if you consider that, up until a certain point, this was our canon timeline — until someone rewrote the ending of the arc with the Book, starting with Fyodor injuring his hand...! We only have one example of the Book being used to majorly rewrite reality in the manga, and when that happened, the main players — the ADA members — were aware that reality was changed, even though they did have memories of the new rewritten reality. BUT, Nikolai was unaware of this during that scene, and so also were all law enforcement because of the clause written on the page accounting for that, so what if the same thing could happen in this instance, to prevent all our characters in the finale from being aware that things had changed? We literally saw someone writing Nikolai's dialogue for him; imagine someone doing that during Dazai's final speech in the episode, and during all the rest of it! I don't know who this would be, but possibly a mysterious third party who got a hold of a different page from the Book somewhere and wrote things to turn out this way, because they wanted the ADA to win against Fukuchi and Fyodor? Maybe even because... this is the only way they can win?

Remember Atsushi asserting this plan, and how silly and too simple it sounded? What if someone else ended up doing just that, writing their own simple outcome for the ADA to win (as a narrative of course, which is probably why it had to start with the major catalyst of, again, Fyodor injuring his hand)? Additionally, if that's what happened, maybe the ending of the finale is a sort of side effect to the Book being used improperly in this way, leading to a destabilization of the timeline or a mishmash of other timelines into the anime one, leading to the alternate Fukuchi and Akutagawa we see there?